Trenches are cut in soil or earth for various purposes. These include, among others, laying underground media such as, for example, drain tile or utility conduits. Drain tile, also known as “weeping tile,” among other names, is perforated piping installed underground and often immersed in a bed of stone, to transport water as part of an irrigation system, or to provide subterranean drainage and keep water from pooling in flat or low lying areas. Utility conduits provide a protected subterranean path for power and communication lines.
Trench-cutting devices perform a significant labor-saving function, with the potential for more efficient, precise and consistent results than cutting trenches by hand, or by using non-purpose-built machinery such as backhoes. Such complex devices may have high power requirements to cut and excavate soil, and may incorporate numerous heavy-duty moving parts, which may also need lubrication. For obvious reasons, such trench-cutting devices may incorporate a fortified, or heavy-duty cutting member, as well as a powerful drive mechanism, to advance and cut trenches in soil of high or variable density.
After a trench is cut, media may be fed into the open trench. This may be done by hand or through the use of feeder devices, which may be integrated with a trench-cutting device. While it is not always required, adding a backfill material to the trench may optimize the performance of the media by protecting it, or facilitating fluid flow to or away from the media, for example. This may require precise and specific positioning of the backfill material and media, or their arrangement in a particular configuration or relationship. However, ensuring that the backfill material is properly deposited into the trench in a desired relationship with the deposited media, for the intended performance or protection of the media, may require additional equipment or labor and inspection while the media is being laid in the trench, or before refilling the trench. Indeed, the performance of such labor or inspection before re-filling the trench may be labor- and time-intensive.
To provide the capability for cutting trenches in various types of soil and over long distances (for example, large-scale agricultural fields and wind farm installations), trench-cutting devices often approach the size, weight and cost of large farming vehicles or construction equipment.